Michael Kownacky

We’re turning to another opera that’s been forgotten although it was quite popular when it premiered in 1920 on this week’s Sunday Opera (6/15 3:00 p.m.), and as a bonus, it’s written in the Basque idiom. It’s Spanish composer Jesus Guridi’s “Amaya.” Guridi (1886 – 1961) played an important role as a Spanish / Basque composer who wrote operas and zarzuelas as well as orchestral, piano, choral, and organ works.

We decided to get everyone prepared for summer on this week’s Dress Circle (6/15 7:00 p.m.), since it officially begins on June 20th. To do this, we’ve turned to “summer songs” from thirteen diverse musicals.

Victor Hugo’s novel “Angelo, the Tyrant of Padua” has been used for several operatic adaptations with Amilcare Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” probably being the best known, but on this week’s Sunday Opera (6/8 3:00 p.m.), we’re looking at a different treatment by librettist Angelo Zanardini in Alfredo Catalani’s “Dejanice” which had its premiere in 1883.

This week’s Dress Circle (6/8 7:00 p.m.) is a return to one of our favorite topics, “Involuntary Musical Imagery” otherwise known as stuck song syndrome, sticky music, and cognitive itch, or, as the Germans call them, orhwurm. Of course, their earworms. Those pesky songs that you love to hate. You hear them, and they stay with you for a very long time afterwards.

It’s an afternoon of some “interesting” relationships on this week’s Sunday Opera (6/1 3:00 p.m.) with Ivar Hallstrom’s “Duke Magnus and the Mermaid” and Louis Spohr’s treatment of “Beauty and the Beast” (“Azore et Zamire”).

Happy June! For Broadway openings, it’s not so happy, but we’ve still got a program of songs from a few of the shows that opened in New York in June on this week’s Dress Circle (6/1 7:00 p.m.).

Although Giacomo Meyerbeer was one of the most celebrated composers during his lifetime and wrote some sixteen operas, many of his works often go overlooked. We’re going to remedy that, a bit, on this week’s Sunday Opera (5/25 3:00 p.m.) with a recording of his last work, “L’Africaine” or “Vasco da Gama” in its edited final version.

One recurring theme we’re hearing for this year’s Memorial Day is about “getting away” for the weekend, so on this week’s Dress Circle (5/25 7:00 p.m.), since it’s Memorial Day weekend, we’re going on a Memorial Day Getaway with the musicals.

Stanislaw Moniuszko has been dubbed the father of Polish national music, but only a few of his works have been seen outside of Poland where they are performed regularly. On this week’s Sunday Opera (5/18 3:00 p.m.) we’ll hear one of them, his “The Haunted Manor” (“Straszny Dwor”), and although it is labeled as a romantic comedy, it’s considered to be one of the finest examples of patriotic Polish themed music.

“Every Single Moment” we find that “This Is the Moment” for several good songs from some musicals, and we’d like to ask you to “Take the Moment” and join us for this week’s Dress Circle (5/18 7:00 p.m.) when we’ll be musically “In the Moment.”